The Value of a Bronx Education….

Ok I’m a bit biased, as I both graduated from and worked at my alma mater, Fordham University in The Bronx, New York. However a piece by the New York Post’s Justin Terranova last week pointed out how Fordham continues to churn out some of the most impactful voices in Fordham today, especially in the New York area. However what the piece didn’t talk about were all the others both in front of and behind the cameras that make the business of sport run so well. That is the true beauty of what Fordham has created, and it shows that you don’t need big time successful athletics (just check the Rams hoops and football records the last 18 years unfortunately) to produce or draw quality talent.

So yes the Rams have produced Michael Kay and Jack Curry and John Giannone and John Andariese and Chris Carrino and Spiro Dedes and Mike Breen and Bob Papa who paint the scenery for New York sports fans on TV and radio. But the school has also given sports MLB Marketing head Tim Brosnan, almost a dozen voices on Sirius/XM (like Ed Randall and Andrew Bogush), the man who keeps the Mets on the air every night, producer Chris Majkowski, the man who helped build the X Games at ESPN, Rick Allesandri, the voice of the Washington National Charlie Slowes, Elias sports bureau head Steve Hirdt, Malcolm Moran, currently the Knight Chair for Journalism in Sports and Society at Penn State, and so many others in public relations, sports marketing, sales, production and broadcasting to name in one post. And yes, Vin Scully too.

Why Fordham? It has a 50,000 watt radio station sitting in the New York area, a great journalism tradition that includes Pulitzer Prize winner Arthur Daley, and the ability to create entry level spots for hardworking young people through its alumni base, a group that cares and engages with others coming through the program. WFUV is also unique in that it is the ONLY voice for Fordham sports….there is no commercial entity to push the public station broadcast to the back burner. While that is probably not good from a marketing standpoint for the school, it is invaluable in the level of professionalism that the students bring to the job, and that is reflected in the careers of so many. Saying that Fordham is really dominant in the business of sports is no slight to the Newhouse School at Syracuse or the Medill School at the Northwestern. What it is is a positive point toward a small Jesuit school which has a niche and has cultivated it over time. Hail Men of Fordham hail for such a great job for those who work and follow sports. Credit where credit is due. It is a great model for all those in major urban areas looking to grow the right program, the right way.